Respect for personal honour Lesson 19 – LD 43  The Fruit of Faith: LD 32-44 Respect for personal honour Lesson 19 – LD 43

Psalm 12:1,4 1.Help us, O Lord! The godly all have vanished; gone are the faithful who your judgments seek. Men lie to one another, truth is banished; with flatt’ring lips and double heart they speak. 4.The words of promise which the Lord has spoken are purest silver seven times refined. His cov’nant stands from age to age unbroken; he is our God, in truth and faith enshrined.

9th commandment Don’t Do You shall not testify falsely condemn another without hearing Don’t twist another’s words speak evil of another lie about another uphold another’s honour Do do justice to others

In court The 9th commandment uses the situation of a court room to indicate how we are to speak about each other

A court room Whatever role we play in regards to a matter, we are to speak the truth and seek the common good of all (including God)

Bible Study: 1 Kings 21:1-16 1. Ahab and Naboth 2. His vineyard 3. Because he had inherited from his forefathers 4. Sullen and angry 5. Jezebel, his wife 6. Because Ahab was king 7. She wrote letters in Ahab’s name

Bible Study: 1 Kings 21:1-16 8. To have false witnesses who could help get Naboth condemned to death 9. Yes 10. Cursing both God and the king 11. He was stoned to death 12. He took the vineyard 13. Naboth Everybody else

Condemned unfairly There are many accounts in the Bible of people who were unjustly condemned. Among them are David, when persecuted by Saul The prophet Jeremiah John the Baptist The Lord Jesus Christ The deacon Stephen

Gossip

The issue  We are to do all we can to protect the name of other people. This promotes love and loyalty in society. How does it feel to be the victim? You feel like you might as well be dead. How does it feel to be the perpetrator? You’re never sure when people will take revenge.

Love the truth or the neighbour? Two friends are in a car. The driver is drunk. He runs a red light and causes a fender-bender. As the police are on their way, the driver says to his (sober) friend: can we pretend you were driving? What would you do?

Love the truth or the neighbour? Two friends are in a car. The driver is drunk. He runs a red light and causes a fender-bender. As the police are on their way, the driver says to his (sober) friend: can we pretend you were driving? What would you do? When this story was told to a group of Dutch people and Korean people, it turned out that The Dutch would refuse The Koreans would agree And both claimed the other group would be lying.

Telling a lie to protect the neighbour During World War 2, many people in The Netherlands went into hiding. If the Germans came knocking on your door and asked: is anybody hiding here, were you allowed to lie and say “no”? People of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations would tell the truth. People of the Reformed Churches would tell a lie. It’s not always wrong to tell an untruth.

It’s not always wise to tell a truth. Not telling a truth Peter and George are having a coffee together. They’re talking about Jack. George doesn’t like Jack and is always talking Jack down. Jack is trying to get his driver’s license and Peter knows he’s failed twice already. George doesn’t know this. When George comments on how hopeless Jack can be, Peter says nothing about Jack having failed his driver’s test twice already. It’s not always wise to tell a truth.

 How shall we speak? The 9th commandment teaches us To love our neighbour and the truth together When you speak, consider - What does the most justice to the truth - What does the least damage to myself and my neighbour

 9th commandment Don’t Do You shall not testify falsely condemn another without hearing Don’t twist another’s words speak evil of another lie about another uphold another’s honour Do do justice to others